2011/03/31

Well it's a strange post, I don't want to let you think than it's here than the seeds of betrayal lay. I do think Terry Shaughnessy is a very gifted songwriter, he has a very impressive soul feeling. It's a friend and I've been really privileged to listen his demos before the LP. I have to admit the demos were incredibly better than the way it's been produced on the LP. Terry Knows it and I've told him my opinion. He deserves really better than being stuck in the narrow corridor of "Mod" band. Yes he's a mod but he has much more things to say than an average mod sound copy, he's soulful, go to see him solo with an acoustic guitar and you'll know it, no need to drawn it in a glimmer mix, no need at all. Record the sound, let him play with the band, that will be fine. I don't think they saw the bigger picture regarding his songs and his music. The new version of is This England? you can hear on this blog (check the player on the right) is the real The Universal sound and it's the way the next album is going to be. God bless the mod crowd to consider him as a very interesting songwriter but he's really bigger than the size of a Fred Perry shirt. There are numerous gigs to come, a new album soon and a new website is on its way! A very noisy buzz is running about The Universal gig in a Mod Party in LILLE (France) next year... Stay Tuned and Follow them on Facebook.

8th April - THE DROP, STOKE NEWINGTON, LONDON9th April - WREXHAM LARGER CLUB, WREXHAM15th April - THE RAILWAY INN, BOLTON...30th April - THE MODROPHONIC WEEKENDER, THE CAVERN CLUB, LIVERPOOL1st May - THE PAVILIONS CLUB, BIRMINGHAM as part of the Mods MayDay Weekender14th May - REVOLVER, BIRKENHEAD as part of the Chemical Casino EP Launch

2011/03/26

Sadly suddenly lonely because Honey dear the hubbie stood me up on the cracked Brussels pavement because of a job's problem... Fook man, he's gonna miss the four letter word maniac...Brussels is a so special place for him, he met Weller here and had a pretty long chat with him in 2001, he met Jean Christophe and Simon here too, Niels from Denmark, the day before they went to Amsterdam... He's stuck in blank exam, he's gonna ask things like "Who is Balzac or Baudelaire?" Fun, fun, fun and funny answers (Balzac helped the people to end the World War 2 in... 1948 and he asked the government to improve the miners working condition" (All is unfortunately true...). Had him on the phone, he could barely speak or breathe, highly upset...So, big buzz around the Brussels' AB, no contest, the city in siege, no one is home!

I'm strolling nonchalantly around the AB trying to sell the extra tickets. Surprise, there was such a buzz around the sold out gig than there's too much tickets! And they're cheap, so cheap I had to leave my Husband's ticket for a ridiculous price... Was looking for a Man' city mad lad or to give a nod a mod to keep it in good and safe hands, a Beady Eye ticket is not a second hand cd, you've got to deserve it. That guy who's not gonna let his parka down all along the gig, whatever the inside heat, is ok! Mods rule. Have to keep the faithful spirit to the missing one... ;)

Can't wait to see Liam and ex Noel's best friends (why did they stay with Liam by the way, not a single one with Noel...?), I'm very near of the stage to listen the Brilliant Miles Kane who turned solo after his Rascals experience. We're between big robbers now, Miles Kanes, Alex Turner's half of the Last Shadow Puppets, could be worst! We were expecting the DodoZ (with a Z), not the DodoS (with a S) and then came Miles! You've probably heard the bootleg, he's been brilliant and classy enough to dedicate Hey Bulldog to Beady eye. There's no album out yet and the audience was sometimes singing along with him. Rare moment, such a great opening act...An English gal' asked me who's the guy... Blame on me, Shame on me, I didn't realize quickly enough it wasn't the dodoZ... I gave her the name as the DodoS... She's gonna hate me if she buys the record... DodoZ, DodoS, GoGos? and it was citizen Kane...

Even when he's not there and even when he's not home with me, he can find a way to bug me with a Weller Attack! That's entertainment was one of the songs played between Miles Kane and Beady! All the crowd sang along... Timeless song, have to admit it! :) That was a cool way to stand the 45 minutes of so called soundcheck, clutching guitars a million times to check the tuning, bang on the drums, etc... And then, ..

The Ultimate Lad was there...Alive, in a good shape, handsome, proud, arrogant, wanker...The set is short, sharp, tight, they play really well and don't forget they have Jeff Wooton on bass and Chis on Drums, pro or ex pro and that kind of guy have played with everyone, for everyone and they can drive the sound very safely. Could be worse to keep the melodic part on the rails. The most impressive part of the set, according to me is than Liam is really back in shape from the vocal point of view, he stopped to bark and to cut the words before the end. Remember What's the Story? and the massive melodic power of his voice. We've all forgot how impressed we've been at the time. Of course, Liam does Liam (I aint't no fookin dancer...) and he stands up, petrified like a statue and he enjoys deeply the roaring crowd, he has won the first leg, he's alive, he's singing, he's back, the band is good. Weller was probably right, maybe the Gallagh' bros said everything they had to say with Oasis, maybe they will be better in separate ways, now. He smiles, kiddin the band, doesn't brag too much, he enjoyed the Beady Eye's birth and it's a success. He will survive Oasis. The Fook preacher is now the Pop preacher (call him The Seeker?) Lights are magical, Liam is mistery, Beady eye is on tour. They're just here, now. No need to think they're back. Oasis could be back, Beady Eye just can't. We're now waiting for Noel, no more for Oasis. Miss Yann.

As mentioned in last months update, issue 10 of Double Breasted will be out at the end of May, it's all planned out, so now a case of getting it all pulled together in time for the print deadline. We had a fantastic time with Secret Affair who played to a sell out crowd at Glasgow's Ivory Blacks in February. I had an absolute ball and still a bit shell shocked that in the past 6 months i've promoted The Chords, Purple Hearts and Secret Affair, as well as all the fantastic bands we've put on at A Little Mixed Up. Lots of live stuff coming up. We're promoting The Moons on two of their Scottish gigs in June. If you've been following Double Breasted from the start you'll know we've been huge supporters of everything they've done so far and Andy Crofts talked about his 'Classic Album' in Issue 5. They'll be in Perth at Mondo, on Thursday 9 and at Glasgow's Ivory Blacks on Friday 10 June. Tickets are on sale from 26th March at Concorde Music (01738 621818) for Perth and Tickets Scotland for Glasgow, although you can also book online for the Glasgow show. Support for both nights is the fantastic Figure 5, plus we've djs playing fab tunes between the bands. Andy will also be guest dj at our Glasgow aftershow party which will continue on at Ivory Blacks until 3am. The following week we're down to London for A Little Mixed Up: London on Saturday 18 June at the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden. We're heading down with The Laynes and Modus, and joining Aunt Nelly, The Mynd Set, RT3 and The Nite Tones, plus DJs Dave Edwards, Ricky Tick and ourselves behind the decks for a day of great music. Tickets are priced £15 and available by contacting us here, or you can buy them here It all starts at 2pm and runs through to 1am. I believe that there's a R&B Mousetrap that night so somewhere to stagger onto when doors close! Here's links to some of the bands - aunt Nelly and others. In September we're bringing Pope up to Glasgow for a gig at Ivory Blacks on Saturday 17 September. Pope is Chris Pope (ex The Chords) Mic Stoner (RT3/Speakeasy) and Ken Cooper (The Mynd Set/RT3) Support is from the rather superb The Laynes, and Colin, Kev and Craig will be djing between the bands and at the aftershow party which will go on at Ivory Blacks until 3am. Online bookings can be made now at Tickets Scotland, and tickets onsale from Saturday 26 March. The Pope. The last live date for 2011 (at the moment!!!) is our annual A Little Mixed Up alldayer and this year we'll be on at Ivory Blacks from 6pm - 3am on Saturday 26 November. The bands have been confirmed and all will be revealed soon.

Back at the turn of the century, David Bowie re-recorded a number of his lesser-known songs, and planned to release them along with some new material on an album called Toy. The album was slated for a mid-2001 release, but due to problems with Virgin, Bowie’s record label at the time, it never saw the light of day. A number of the songs from Toy were included on Bowie’s 2002 album Heathen and as B-sides to its various singles, but a large portion of Toy still remained unreleased.

Sunday afternoon, a decade after its planned release, a 256 kbps quality torrent of the full-length album was leaked online. Consisting of 14 tracks, and running a little over an hour long, the album is the closest we can get to “new” Bowie material.

2011/03/23

Thanx Boss, because of the mistake you did in my blank exam's planning, I couldn't be in Brussels on time and missed the band! My wife was there, she'll do a review for us. First impression (she saw Oasis 10 times live): "Liam has never sung so well". ;)

2011/03/20

As mentioned in last months update, issue 10 of Double Breasted will be out at the end of May, it's all planned out, so now a case of getting it all pulled together in time for the print deadline. We had a fantastic time with Secret Affair who played to a sell out crowd at Glasgow's Ivory Blacks in February. I had an absolute ball and still a bit shell shocked that in the past 6 months i've promoted The Chords, Purple Hearts and Secret Affair, as well as all the fantastic bands we've put on at A Little Mixed Up. Lots of live stuff coming up. We're promoting The Moons on two of their Scottish gigs in June. If you've been following Double Breasted from the start you'll know we've been huge supporters of everything they've done so far and Andy Crofts talked about his 'Classic Album' in Issue 5. They'll be in Perth at Mondo, on Thursday 9 and at Glasgow's Ivory Blacks on Friday 10 June. Tickets are on sale from 26th March at Concorde Music (01738 621818) for Perth and Tickets Scotland for Glasgow, although you can also book online for the Glasgow show. Support for both nights is the fantastic Figure 5, plus we've djs playing fab tunes between the bands. Andy will also be guest dj at our Glasgow aftershow party which will continue on at Ivory Blacks until 3am. The following week we're down to London for A Little Mixed Up: London on Saturday 18 June at the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden. We're heading down with The Laynes and Modus, and joining Aunt Nelly, The Mynd Set, RT3 and The Nite Tones, plus DJs Dave Edwards, Ricky Tick and ourselves behind the decks for a day of great music. Tickets are priced £15 and available by contacting us here, or you can buy them here It all starts at 2pm and runs through to 1am. I believe that there's a R&B Mousetrap that night so somewhere to stagger onto when doors close! Here's links to some of the bands - aunt Nelly and others. In September we're bringing Pope up to Glasgow for a gig at Ivory Blacks on Saturday 17 September. Pope is Chris Pope (ex The Chords) Mic Stoner (RT3/Speakeasy) and Ken Cooper (The Mynd Set/RT3) Support is from the rather superb The Laynes, and Colin, Kev and Craig will be djing between the bands and at the aftershow party which will go on at Ivory Blacks until 3am. Online bookings can be made now at Tickets Scotland, and tickets onsale from Saturday 26 March. The Pope. The last live date for 2011 (at the moment!!!) is our annual A Little Mixed Up alldayer and this year we'll be on at Ivory Blacks from 6pm - 3am on Saturday 26 November. The bands have been confirmed and all will be revealed soon.

If you are planning to come along to our next show at the Hailsham Pavilion (Saturday 26th March at 7.30pm) you might wish to wear your best hat and coat for the evening is being filmed ready for a new DVD scheduled to come out later in the year...The evening features the band Slim Chance playing the music of Ronnie Lane, Oh and by the way come that bit earlier for we will be showing a film of Ronnie's life from 7.00pm and along with the goodtime music there will be juggling and Can-Can dancers!PHEW........

Ronnie Lane was a born entertainer, humorous, emotional and spiritual, a troubadour to the day he died (at the age of 51 after suffering from Multiple Sclerosis for 21 years). As part of the Small Faces, Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott were one of the great songwriting partnerships responsible for such classics as All Or Nothing, Itchycoo Park and Lazy Sunday. Marriott went to Humble Pie, whilst Ronnie moved onto The Faces, one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time, but he was soon to turn his back on the jet-set glamour in order to take his music back to the people. Whilst the Faces cruised from hotels to concert halls in limousines, Ronnie with his new band Slim Chance snailed around Britain in a raggle-taggle convoy of caravans, with a big top circus tent, Can-Can dancers, clowns and jugglers.

Known as the "Passing Show" this was undoubtedly one of the most ambitious tours of the 1970s and Slim Chance, the band that undertook those tours, have reformed to once again tread the boards. In between the various members have, or are currently playing with Eric Clapton, Ian Dury, Cat Stevens, Ralph McTell, P.P. Arnold, Chris Farlowe, Ben E King, Carl Perkins, Nick Lowe, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings.

They bring to the Pavilion Ronnie Lane’s goodtime music, a film crew, for a dvd is being made of the evening's show, a film of Ronnie's life, as well as jugglers and a troupe of Can Can dancers, The Pretty Little Horsebreakers.

2011/03/19

"We're going to put in some new numbers as well so it's not all just nostalgia," says Foxton, from his home in Surrey, England. "We're halfway through recording a new album, which Paul [Weller] is gonna to be playing on."

How involved is Paul going to be on your new album about the new album from From The Jam?

"We've got a bunch of songs together which we're going to send him the demos of. He's got a free hand -- whether he wants to sing, play guitar, play keyboards, play spoons even! -- it'll be good to have him on board. Complete interview here. Thanx again to MikeC